Illegal Poppies
Read the article this discussion is about
- KeithM_4
- Beverly44
- biogardener
- KeithM_4
- Gay_Klok
- biogardener
- vivilet
- biogardener
- Arty15
- SandySue333
This archived discussion is "read only".
For the corresponding "live" discussions, post in the active topic forum here.
« Previous 1 2 Next »
» KeithM_4 - Re: Poppy photograph
In response to Poppy photograph posted by Howie:Thanks to all for the interesting discussion on opium poppies. Thanks especially to Howie for providing the great photo of the poppy in question! If you're growing illegal poppies, don't worry about it. The government has much better things to do than confiscate your flowers.
-- posted by KeithM_4
» Beverly44 - Re: Poppy photograph
In response to Poppy photograph posted by Howie:I wish to be sent, as many as you can spare, seeds for this beautiful TRIPLE PINK POPPY. My mailing address is: BEVERLY HALL, 1628 BRANDON HALL DR., ATLANTA, GA. 30350 EMAIL; beverlysuehall@hotmail.com
-- posted by Beverly44
» biogardener - Email Howie
You are supposed to email Howie. There is no guarantee that he will see a posted address here. Anyway, it is not a good idea to post an actual mailing address on the web.-- posted by biogardener
-- posted by KeithM_4
» Gay_Klok - Re: Re: poppies...
In response to Re: poppies... posted by KeithM_4:I have told this story before but will repeat it
Tasmanian farmers grows a great deal of opium which is exported for medical purposes. It is very strictly controlled by the Government because it is forbidden to be used in Australia, even for medical purposes! So, all home gardeners are not supposed to grow poppies. Large tracts of land turn purple/grey at blooming time, very pretty.
Somehow [the birds? Or people who have stolen seed?] some years we get unplanted poppies growing in our country garden - sometimes purple [double], more usually red.
One year a commercial TV station asked to film the garden and the presenter, a civil servant who worked in the quarantine department and did the garden programmes on the side, came to have a look before the filming took place. We walked along the main border and there were many scarlet, double poppies blazing the trail. I hurriedly assured him that they were seeded, unasked, into the garden but would pull them out, if he wanted me to. He said "I wouldn't want you to do that, the more colour the poppy shows, the more difficult it is to get the opium"
They didn't film that border!!
A few years later, at a garden dinner, I sat next to a gentleman who had come from overseas to help the farmers establish the opium business [he was apparently an expert on opiums a dr someone] and liking Tasmania so much, he had decided to stay.
He told me that all poppies could be 'opium' poppies
-- posted by Gay_Klok
» biogardener - Extent of cultivation
All poppies could be used to make opium, but the amount of opium which is extracted from them is so minimal that only the largest poppies are used for commercial use and they are cultivated in huge fields. No one is worried about people growing the same poppies in gardens, so poppies per se are not illegal.Those poppies need the juice harvested from the unripe seed pods, and that is terribly labor-intensive, even if you know how to do it.
So go ahead and enjoy your poppies in your garden for the gorgeous flowers, and don't worry about opium. Just don't grow a large field of them.
If any region in the world has laws against growing poppies in the garden, then I would say that the law makers were incredibly ignorant.
-- posted by biogardener
» biogardener - Getting the seeds
If you are interested in obtaining the poppy seeds, you need to contact the person who offered them, I believe it was Howie, by email, sending him your snail mail address.-- posted by biogardener
» Arty15 - Re: Re: Poppy photograph
In response to Re: Poppy photograph posted by vivilet:Hi Viviet,
Did you ever get your poppy seeds and/or pods? I have been growing them for several years and have 2 varieties. One is a deep red with purple to almost black in the middle of each petal and the other is pinkish-orange with a light violet center on each petal. I grow them because they are beautiful and also because I am a botanical artist not for any other purpose. I also have a botanical painting of the poppy which took me 2 years to finish because I was waiting for the blooms to come back.
If you have any interest at all let me know. I live in Southern California and it is time to start sowing them now.
-- posted by Arty15
» SandySue333 - Poppy photograph
Do you still have seeds available of this wonderful poppy??-- posted by SandySue333
« Previous 1 2 Next »
Please follow the guidelines set forth in the Suite101 Posting Etiquette when adding to the discussion.